Shelter paperwork only said Tortoiseshell but a friend told me her hair is too long to be, any thoughts?
Charlotte says hello back!
Tortoiseshell is a colouration, not a breed - you get long hair tortoiseshell cats, same way you get long hair tabbys.
Fun fact: due to the way the genetics works out, male tortoiseshell cats are incredibly rare - less than 1 in 100,000 iirc
and the male cats that are torties are… how shall we say, a bit extra?
(generally. the male torties or calicos have XXY chromosomes. though it’s also possible they’re a genetic chimera.)
Likely your cat is a Tortoiseshell (colouration) Domestic Medium Hair (breed). Often people just refer to colouration and not to the breed, like how people call cats “Tabbys”. Tabby is a colour pattern, not a breed. Most common breeds are Domestic Short Hair, Domestic Medium Hair and Domestic Long Hair. Of course there are many other breeds but most shelter cats are just Domestic X’s.
Aye that’s a tortie
Yes, and a very beautiful one.
